“The (vaccine) from Pfizer is very promising, we also expect more and more,” Tedros said. He reiterated the call of the United Nations agency for an equitable distribution of vaccine doses once they are available.
He said the WHO team studying the origin of the virus has experts from the United States, Russia, Australia, Sudan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Vietnam and Great Britain.
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, told the same WHO ministerial assembly: “The exciting news yesterday (Monday) of a possible effective vaccine to be available heralds major cold chain challenges for African countries. because of the type of vaccine it is, they should be taken into account in the support that will be provided. “
The United States, which has accused China of having concealed the scope of its coronavirus outbreak, on Tuesday called for a “transparent and inclusive” international investigation led by the WHO into the origin of the pandemic, criticizing its current terms.
The Trump administration has accused the World Health Organization of being “China-centric” and of being its puppet, which WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has denied.
Tedros on Monday welcomed efforts to strengthen the Geneva-based body through reforms and said he looked forward to working closely with the administration of US President-elect Joe Biden.
WHO funding must become more flexible and predictable to end a “gross misalignment” between expectations and available resources, the WHO director-general said, citing reform efforts by France, Germany and the European Union.
“We welcome the encouraging news about vaccines from @pfizer & @BioNTech_Group and salute all scientists and partners who are developing new, safe and effective tools to defeat # COVID19,” said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a tweet.
“The world is experiencing unprecedented scientific innovation and collaboration to end the pandemic,” he said.
By mid-October, the WHO had identified 42 “candidate vaccines” in the clinical trial stage, up from 11 in mid-June.
Ten of them were in the most advanced phase 3, in which the efficacy of a vaccine is tested on a large scale, usually tens of thousands of people on several continents.
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